Kia's
public relations director, Alex Fedorak, tells PickupTruck.com,
"The Automotive News story is accurate," with regards to Kia
no longer considering a pickup truck for the U.S. market.

Automotive
News (which, by the way, is free this week for non-subscribers) is
reporting two
very interesting bits of news about the new Asian truck invasion, or
lack thereof.

India

India's
Mahindra & Mahindra is on track to start
importing and selling compact
diesel pickups in the United States by early 2009 - promising to, "price
them as low as any pickups now on the market." And
that vow includes the cost of a 25% tariff added to pickups manufactured
overseas and shipped into the U.S..

M&M
execs had met with Georgia
governor Sonny Perdue in April to discuss
building a U.S. plant that would have avoided the "chicken tax",
but Automotive News says Mahindra's automotive sector president, Pawan
Goenka, told them a U.S. factory is no longer being considered.

Mr. Goenka
said, "The
fixed overhead of setting up a plant in the U.S. is very, very high.
And with the kind of volume we foresee now, that is not a viable option."

M&M
plans to offer three different pickups - one regular cab and two
crew cabs.

Mahindra's
American import and distribution arm, Global Vehicles U.S.A. describes
the trucks on its website as:

Regular
Cab Two Door: "This no frills work horse is a stallion,
a well equipped truck that spoils the workers that drive it. Rugged,
luxurious, and dependable; not qualities you usually find in a Pick-up.
It will make short work of most dirty jobs with out breaking a sweat."

Crew
Cab Four Door: "Truck or SUV, you decide, this vehicle
offers the best of both worlds. It can haul lumber or be used for
a night on the town. Comfortably seating five this truck can make
short work down on the farm before spending a night boot-scooting
around town."

Crew
Cab Four Door EX: "Mean, refined, and extreme; all
can be used to describe this awesome vehicle. It has a knack for
finding the road less traveled and beating it into submission. Featuring
4WD, full leather, and a knarly light bar; this vehicle came to play
and wipeout anything that stands in its way."

All the
trucks will be powered by a four-cylinder common-rail diesel paired
with a 6-speed automatic transmission. M&M promises fuel economy
between 28-35 miles per gallon and has teamed up with Bosch and Michigan-based AVL to develop clean diesel technology
to meet tough U.S. emissions requirements.

Mahindra
is also promising a 60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty.

South Korea

But while
M&M has decided to accept the tariff added to import its
pickups into the U.S., Automotive News is also
reporting a rumor that South Korea's Big Two - Hyundai and
Kia - have decided not to enter the U.S. pickup truck market.

AN
quotes a Kia source who says, "Neither Hyundai nor Kia is considering
a pickup truck. A truck is absolutely
off the radar screen."

What's so
bizarre about this news is that South Korea recently signed a free
trade pact with the U.S. that phases out the "chicken tax" for
pickups built in Korea by 2017. And both Hyundai and Kia management,
including Kia's president, have officially
stated they wanted to build pickups for American consumers. Plus, there
have also been recent sightings of Kia's
new Mesa full size, body-on-frame
SUV. Why build a body-on-frame SUV and not a BOF pickup?

Our take
is that Kia and Hyundai are trying to throw their competitors off the
scent of their continued full and midsize pickup
efforts.